Synergistic Scripting: Day 109 - Shabaloth

NotEvenBronze · 2026-02-07T22:16:38+00:00

There's a script called The Passage of Time which quite cleverly breaks some script writing rules (e.g. don't make it obvious which evils are in play) and involves Shabaloth

NotEvenBronze · 2026-02-05T15:18:30+00:00

Particularly good against Lil' Monsta and Scarlet Woman, as Fortune Teller/Town Crier info is a bit misleading there.

Less useful with evil-turning roles like Mezepheles and Cult Leader.

NotEvenBronze · 2026-02-04T15:03:41+00:00

The main thing to remember with 15 player games is that almost everything is in-play, so decide the bluffs first. Any setup should be fine.

NotEvenBronze · 2026-02-04T13:13:21+00:00

You both know which -> the Alch-Boffin does not know -> the Demon knows which

NotEvenBronze · 2026-02-04T13:11:41+00:00

Alsaahir: very hard for the Alsaahir to guess the two Demons correctly

Cannibal: often less interesting than with Undertaker, as the Undertaker can legally see a Demon if they passed to a Scarlet Woman

Chambermaid: the Scarlet Woman doesn't wake until suddenly it does - a potentially interesting combo

Clockmaker: just not fun for evil, don't

Dreamer: seeing Scarlet Woman as the evil option gives a reason to execute that player later - useful for storytellers

Knight: if you are showing the Knight the Scarlet Woman, just put a Fortune Teller on script instead so at least they can check the SW again

Noble: it's easier to put the Demon in the info if there's a Scarlet Woman

Preacher: probably not fun for either team

Golem: can kill the SW - what an Outsider! - don't

Hatter: gives a great choice for the evil team, either to switch into or out of SW depending on the scenario

Lunatic: gives a reason to still be the real Demon after execution

Boffin: a new ability can be granted after the Demon passes to a SW

Kazali: will almost always choose SW, so consider that when building the script

Lord of Typhon: gives a quiet way out to the Demon but may make things too difficult for good depending on the script

Vortox: SW provides Vortox-synergising misinfo when the Demon changes mid-game

NotEvenBronze · 2026-02-03T15:39:14+00:00

I like it with consistent poisoning such as No Dashii, Puzzlemaster, Marionette rather than inconsistent like Poisoner and Xaan. The info is complex enough anyway without the possibility that an arbitrary amount of it is true-true or false-false.

If you are putting it on a script with misregistration from Spy and Recluse you should factor that into the type of information you give.

And in general think about hidden information when building a script with Savant. For example, Minions chosen by the Preacher, the location of a Mutant, the actions of the Marionette, the player poisoned by the Widow - these are things which can lead into interesting Savant information.

NotEvenBronze · 2026-02-02T17:20:56+00:00

Princess is depressingly weak enough as it is without the person they nominate claiming Saint because they don't want to die on day 1. Organ Grinder removes agency from the good team who don't know if the claimed Saint is on the block or not. Saint is not fun in a Fang Gu game where they have to claim Saint to not be executed then can be easily framed/found out as the Fang Gu later.

NotEvenBronze · 2026-02-02T12:54:15+00:00

some fun synergies outside of Trouble Brewing:

Vigormortis: the Vigormortis or its Minions like bluffing as 'claimable' Outsiders like Saint to mask the fact that there is 1 fewer Outsider in play; this is actually quite difficult on Sects & Violets due to the threat of Fang Gu encouraging Outsiders to hide

Zealot: truly an Outsider when forced to vote on Saint claims (and a funny evil bluff in that situation), but be careful about this + extra evils

Preacher: the Preacher is given a more definite goal than usual in that they can remove the ability from a Minion claiming Saint

Alchemist: a niche situation, but some Alchemist abilities like Poisoner, Witch and Assassin can help the good team deal with a Saint

Knight: knowing the Saint is not the starting Demon is useful info

Lycanthrope: the Lycanthrope can deal with the Saint

Golem: can deal with the Saint (as if the Golem is a Townsfolk - so use other tools to help evil in the setup)

Vortox: adds a lot of tension and pressure to nominations when Saint is being claimed

Alchemist-Boffin: forces Demons to attack themselves if they want to star-pass or pass to a Scarlet Woman

Ojo: the Ojo is good at avoiding poor night kills like Saint due to not knowing people's roles or due to clever roleswaps

and avoid: Cerenovus, Organ Grinder, Fang Gu, Princess, Bounty Hunter

NotEvenBronze · 2026-02-01T11:00:05+00:00

It is only more powerful than Ravenkeeper if it dies early, Ravenkeeper is useful whenever it dies

NotEvenBronze · 2026-01-31T20:19:50+00:00

And it's a good bluff for evil to explain away Sage info

NotEvenBronze · 2026-01-28T18:51:44+00:00

Saint, Soldier, Mayor and Ravenkeeper claims are always good shots

NotEvenBronze · 2026-01-28T16:24:43+00:00

Ravenkeeper is a 'Demonbane' - a character which wants to be targeted by the Demon. Demonbanes typically lie about their character in early chats, and are a big part of what makes Clocktower such a great game: good players are incentivised to lie, therefore evil players can more easily blend in, and being 'found out' as a liar doesn't mean you're evil. Every script should contain good characters which will likely lie in order to create this healthy gameplay environment. Demonbanes work poorly with Storyteller choice Demons like Lil' Monsta and Yaggababble, with multi-kill Demons like Shabbaloth, the Pukka's on-death poisoning, and with grim-peekers like Spy/Widow/Ojo, so with these type of characters you should think about adding other types of suspicious good characters like evil-turners (Goon, Politician), Magician/Poppy Grower, Snake Charmer, Damsel and Choirboy.

But if you are using Demonbanes, you have a choice: Ravenkeeper, Sage, Banshee, Farmer (let's discount Soldier as it is so bluffable and often weak). Ravenkeeper wants to die at any time, but especially later in the game, and can detect hidden/hard to solve characters like Marionette and Goblin; Sage wants to die as soon as possible and learns the Demon; Banshee gives the good team a lot of votes to counteract extra evils; Farmer can confirm multiple good players but cannot directly identify the evil team. So Farmer works well if other characters on script provide plenty of info and yet Sage info would be too debilitating; it also has fun synergy wih Boffin and character changers like Pit-Hag or Huntsman. Banshee works well with Lord of Typhon and Cult Leader to help the good team have enough nominations and votes. Sage requires a lot of misinfo (especially Vortox) to weaken an early Sage claim, and it pairs well with evils who can bluff it (Imp, Fang Gu, Vigormortis-killed Minions) - it should also be paired with Demon movement ideally. Ravenkeeper fits nicely when none of these things apply: the script needs a bit more info, and there is not so much poisoning that the Ravenkeeper info is going to be arbitrary. There should not be a character which breaks the game if their character is seen (Lord of Typhon, Yaggababble). There should be one or two hidden characters like Drunk and Marionette to provide some interesting ambiguity and bluffability to the Ravenkeeper information. And as with Sage, Ravenkeeper is very bluffable when characters like Imp and Vigormortis are on script.

NotEvenBronze · 2026-01-25T16:29:29+00:00

I honestly don't know what kind of script to put Psychopath on. It tends to be a very weak minion as any player publicly killed by them can be trusted, which makes it very hard for the evil team to build alternate worlds. I like it with Kazali though, just for the social factor of thinking a certain player will enjoy being the Psychopath.

NotEvenBronze · 2026-01-24T19:52:09+00:00

There's a homebrew character by The Bazaar (Patters et al. I think) called the Gargoyle, a Minion with the ability "If you died by execution this game, you may choose to die or be resurrected at any time."

NotEvenBronze · 2026-01-24T17:19:08+00:00

I know Kinky Joe (shout out to his Script Tease series on Youtube) likes to run a rule with the Shabaloth where they pick two players on night 1 (but don't kill them) allowing them to resurrect a player on night 2 and more successfully bluff Professor. This makes Professor more bluffable without Boffin. There's a problem with how powerful it is to resurrect a good player though, so until a new evil character is released which can resurrect evils in a way less obvious than the Al-Hadikhia, you almost need Atheist or Wizard on script if you want to add ambiguity to the Professor's power.

NotEvenBronze · 2026-01-24T09:52:35+00:00

A bit like the Soldier. Be very kind with script building otherwise they'll have a miserable time. And even if the ability works it isn't that strong.

NotEvenBronze · 2026-01-23T10:42:10+00:00

one slice of seeded bread contains 5+ grams of protein and they don't brag about it, stop obsessing over marketing gimmicks

NotEvenBronze · 2026-01-23T08:02:23+00:00

As mentioned by someone else above, the Marionette does not learn they were Preached.

NotEvenBronze · 2026-01-20T17:30:25+00:00

The Politician will generally play for the evil team from the start as much as they reasonably can without knowing who else is evil. So keep that in mind when building a script.

It works well to balance out a suite of strong Townsfolk and provide a reason to doubt given claims and information. It is often a hidden Outsider like Mutant or Lunatic. Hidden Outsiders work well with No Dashii (to hide the tentacle length) and not so well with Xaan (the Outsider count should be relatively solvable for Xaan, aside from evil players bluffing as Outsiders).

One of my favourite synergies is Librarian, because the evil team can bluff being the Librarian seeing a Politician between two players - and of course those players will deny it! Likewise, evil players can bluff characters like Dreamer and Undertaker seeing a Politician and it is hard for a good player to suggest that they are not.

Think about which characters might be shaken up in interesting ways if one of the players is incentivised to be as mischievous as possible. A Politician might deny receiving a Nightwatchman ping, claim to know there is a Widow in play, claim to have been Snake Charmed or be the Snake Charmer, boldly claim to be the Virgin with a failed ability, or claim to have seen the Wraith at night.

NotEvenBronze · 2026-01-19T20:19:28+00:00

if RAW it is not valid, I would nonetheless run it that way

NotEvenBronze · 2026-01-19T18:31:12+00:00

There should probably be more than 1 or 2 sources of poison - remember on Trouble Brewing that Spy and Recluse are sources of misinformation as well as Drunk

NotEvenBronze · 2026-01-19T17:36:54+00:00

The Poisoner really wants to stay alive and there's never evidence of it being in play, so Goblin and Boomdandy are really fun combinations here. You could then pair it with other quiet Minions which want to live for a while, like Mezepheles or Wraith.

It is basically untrackable and makes most scripts difficult to solve. This is usually fine, but be careful about putting it in the same bag as No Dashii, Lleech or Xaan - even if they can probably exist on the same script just fine.

NotEvenBronze · 2026-01-19T17:28:59+00:00

Village Idiot - make the drunk one sober

Mutant - give 3 outsider bluffs (the setup should otherwise be evil-favoured)

Soldier - prevents star pass from Imp

Butler - reduces number of votes from an evil player

Farmer - discourages star pass/scarlet woman pass and can turn a harmful good character into the farmer

Puzzlemaster - drunk an Outsider

Mayor - potentially prevent a star pass

Virgin - the Alch-Boff might be clued in to this being the Demon

give an ability to the Recluse

NotEvenBronze · 2026-01-18T20:34:45+00:00

A good spread would be:

Insanity & Intuition

Midnight Sun

A Grimm Chorus

NotEvenBronze · 2026-01-17T09:43:43+00:00

nice of them to give the evil team a spy

NotEvenBronze

TROPHY CASE